tic
service, and the records indicate the women to have been about twice
as numerous as the men. The highest price recorded is 87 ducats paid
for a Russian girl sold in 1429. All the higher prices are for young
women; a significant circumstance. With the existence of this system
we may safely connect the extraordinary frequence of mention of
illegitimate children in Venetian wills and genealogies. (See _Lazari,
Del Traffico degli Schiavi in Venezia_, etc., in _Miscellanea di
Storia Italiana_, I. 463 seqq.) In 1308 the Khan Toktai of Kipchak
(see Polo, II. 496), hearing that the Genoese and other Franks were in
the habit of carrying off Tartar children to sell, sent a force
against Caffa, which was occupied without resistance, the people
taking refuge in their ships. The Khan also seized the Genoese
property in Sarai. (_Heyd._ II. 27.)

[20] "_Stracium et omne capud massariciorum_"; in Scotch phrase "_napery
and plenishing_." A Venetian statute of 1242 prescribes that a bequest
of _massariticum_ shall be held to carry to the legatee all articles
of common family use except those of gold and silver plate or
jeweller's work. (See _Ducange, sub voce._) _Stracci_ is still used
technically in Venice for "household linen."

[21] In the original _aureas libras quinque_. According to Marino Sanudo
the Younger (_Vite dei Dogi_ in _Muratori_ xxii. 521) this should be
pounds or _lire_ of _aureole_, the name of a silver coin struck by
and named after the Doge _Aurio_ Mastropietro (1178-1192): "Ancora fu
fatta una Moneta d'argento che si chiamava _Aureola_ per la casata del
Doge; _e quella Moneta che i Notai de Venezia mettevano di pena sotto
i loro instrumenti_." But this was a vulgar error. An example of the
penalty of 5 pounds of gold is quoted from a decree of 960; and the
penalty is sometimes expressed "_auri purissimi librae_ 5." A coin
called the _lira d'oro_ or _redonda_ is alleged to have been in use
before the ducat was introduced. (See _Gallicciolli_, II. 16.) But
another authority seems to identify the _lira a oro_ with the _lira
dei grossi_. (See _Zanetti, Nuova Racc. delle Monete &c. d'Italia_,
1775. I. 308)

[22] We give a photographic reduction of the original document. This, and
the other two Polo Wills already quoted, had come into the possession
of the Noble Filippo Balbi, and were b